10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2017
CONTACT US
FOLLOW US
facebook.com/
DailyAstorianSports
Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
ghenley@dailyastorian.com
ASTORIA WINTER SPORTS PREVIEWS
The Daily Astorian
Astoria coach Kevin Goin has a big rebuilding job on his hands.
Astoria’s young guns
battle in tough league
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
The Daily Astorian
Astoria’s Sam Hemsley is looking to have a big junior season.
Astoria girls on the
verge of greatness
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
ASTORIA BOYS BASKETBALL
I
f Astoria boys basketball coach Kevin
Goin had wanted to play the “injury
card,” in describing his team’s 2016-17
season, it would have been understandable.
Injuries don’t always define your sea-
son, but they certainly played a big role for
the Fishermen a year ago.
How else to explain a team that placed
fourth at the state the year before, comes
back mostly intact, then finishes 1-9 in
league play?
The Fishermen had high hopes, but
the season took an unexpected turn when
seniors Kyle Strange and Fridtjof Frems-
tad were lost for most of the season with
injuries.
Olaf Englund remained and did what
he could (earning first team all-league hon-
ors), but the task was tough in a league that
had two of its teams playing in the state
championship game in March.
The league is still tough, and the chal-
lenge will be just as big for Goin this year.
The injury bug has already struck, with
Tristan Wallace going down with a knee
injury during the football season.
“We started OK last year, but once we
lost Fritz and Kyle, it made it rough,” Goin
said. “It’s one of those things that happens.
In my 22nd year of coaching, I’ve never
had so many injuries in back-to-back years.
Last year we had the two, then Tristan this
year.”
Last season, “we still beat three teams
who were in the state playoffs, and we were
10-3 going into league. I really thought
without the injuries, we would have been
right there with everybody else.”
THE COWAPA
When it comes to 4A basketball, the
Cowapa League is the best, hands down.
Over the last three years, four Cowapa
teams have played in the state champion-
ship game (Scappoose, Valley Catholic,
Seaside twice).
In their swan song as a member of the
Coach: Kevin Goin, 4th year
2016-17: 10-13 (1-9 league)
All-league losses: Olaf Englund, Ryan Palek
Cowapa this year, “Scappoose brings every
single kid back,” Goin said. “They looked
really good this summer. Tillamook brings
their guards back. Seaside has their young
guys back, and Banks will be huge.
“It will be a tough year,” he said. “It’s
not the best year to be reloading in the
Cowapa.”
THE FISHERMEN
Wallace is likely out for the year, Goin
said, although there is a chance for a late
return.
It’s next year the Fishermen are really
looking forward to.
“We’ve got good numbers at the
younger levels,” Goin said. “It’s just the
senior class where we only have two kids,”
with Karsten Johnson and Michael Kee, a
6-foot-4 post who has not played since his
freshman year.
Elsewhere, “the freshman numbers are
good, and juniors and sophomores,” Goin
said. “We’re going to be real young this
year, so we’re probably a year away. The
unfortunate part is that our league never
seems to lose anybody. Everybody’s good.”
At least Astoria has size — Ian Hunt
(6-5, Jr.), Conner Long (6-3, Jr.), Josh
Olson (6-4, Jr.), and Peter Johnson, a 6-3
junior transfer from Port Angeles, Wash.
Two sophomores in the varsity lineup
include Isaac Brockman and Ryan
Stenblom.
“Most likely, there will five or six JV
kids who swing,” Goin said. “We’ve got a
huge (20 players) incoming freshmen class.
The Johnson kid we added is real athletic,
but hasn’t played a ton of basketball. He’s
got a lot of skill, and will be a good player.
“Among the top eight or nine guys,
there’s only one or two seniors, so we’ll
bring back a pretty good nucleus.”
T
he upcoming season could be a
good one for the Astoria girls bas-
ketball program. And the following
year is really shaping up to be something
special.
Big things are on the way for the Lady
Fishermen, entering Mike Jacobson’s
fourth year as the Astoria coach.
“We’re going to be young, but good,”
Jacobson said. “We’ve had eight to 10 kids
in the weight room a couple days a week,
even during fall sports. They’re buying in,
and they see what’s going on. We played
three freshmen quite a bit last year, and
Sam (Hemsley) as a sophomore.”
THE COWAPA
“Banks will be really good,” Jacobson
said, as the Braves advanced to the state
championship game last year. “They’ve
got five or six seniors, and (junior) Aspen
Slifka is back. It will be them and proba-
bly Valley Catholic. But I think we should
be right in there with Valley.”
THE LADY FISH
After years of sending their middle
school teams to state tournaments, things
should finally start paying off at the high
school level.
“Hopefully it translates over for them
now, if the coach doesn’t screw it up,”
Jacobson said. “We have three starters
back, with Sam, Brooklynn (Hankwitz)
and Hailey (O’Brien), so we’ll be pretty
strong. We should be better than what we
were last year.”
In addition, “we’re going to be young,”
he said. Hankwitz (a 5-foot-11 post) and
O’Brien are sophomores, along with
6-foot-2 Kajsa Jackson and Julia Norris.
Gracie Cummings and Hemsley are
juniors, with seniors McKenzie Burnett,
Taylor Feldman, Libbie Nash and McK-
ailyn Rogers.
With Hankwitz and Jackson, Asto-
ria will be one of the biggest teams in the
ASTORIA GIRLS BASKETBALL
Coach: Mike Jacobson, 4th year
2016-17: 9-16 (4-6 league)
League playoffs: Defeated Scappoose, lost
to Valley Catholic.
All-league losses: Rylee DeMander, Alexis
Wallace
All-league returner: Sam Hemsley, Jr.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Girls basketball — Warrenton at Nestucca,
6 p.m.
Boys basketball — Warrenton at Nestucca,
7:45 p.m.
FRIDAY
Girls basketball — Gladstone at Seaside,
7:30 p.m.
Boys basketball — Seaside at Gladstone,
7 p.m.
Cowapa for the next few years, and “we
can do some different things that we’re
not used to,” Jacobson said. “We can go
big if we have to, or we can go pretty fast,
too.”
Hemsley will be looked to for the
scoring.
“She’s been shooting the ball real well
and taking on leadership,” he said. “I
think she can step in and have a good sea-
son. And hopefully Brooklynn can score.
She’s spent a year in the weight room.
“Sam will most likely be our leading
scorer every game, but I’m hoping that we
can get a pretty good average from Brook-
lynn — eight to 10 points a game, and
hopefully between 12 and 15 from Julia
and Hailey combined. As long as we can
score, I think we’ll be all right.”
Sophomore Libby Whitsett could also
be in the mix, along with freshmen Kelsey
Fausett and Halle Helmersen providing
future depth. The Lady Fishermen have
15 freshmen in the program this season.
Prediction: State playoffs this year,
state tournament next for the Astoria
girls.
MORE INSIDE: PREVIEWS FOR ASTORIA HIGH SCHOOL’S WRESTLING, SWIM TEAMS ON PAGE 9A.
Oregon State hires former Beavers QB Smith as coach
By RALPH D. RUSSO
Associated Press
AP Photo/Don Ryan
Oregon State head football coach Dennis Erickson
talks strategy with quarterback Jonathan Smith during an
August 1999 practice in Corvallis.
Jonathan Smith is returning to where he
started.
Washington’s co-offensive coordina-
tor Jonathan Smith has been hired by Ore-
gon State to be the Beavers’ head coach,
the school formally announced Wednes-
day night.
Oregon State has been in the market for
a new coach since Gary Andersen surpris-
ingly stepped down in early October after a
1-5 start, with the victory coming over low-
er-division Portland State.
Smith is a former Beavers quarterback
who has been working as quarterbacks
coach for coach Chris Petersen since 2012,
starting at Boise State and following him to
Washington in 2014.
He also had stops as an assistant at Mon-
tana and Idaho. He was a graduate assistant
at Oregon State from 2002-03.
“Oregon State University is a spe-
cial place and I have many memories of
being a part of Beaver Nation,” Smith said
in a statement. “I played for some of the
best coaches I have ever been around and
learned many of the qualities I have utilized
in my coaching career.”
Smith was a walk-on in Corvallis, play-
ing for the Beavers from 1998-2001. He
was on Oregon State’s 2000 team that went
11-1 and defeated Notre Dame in the Fiesta
Bowl under coach Dennis Erickson.
A fan favorite during his playing days,
Smith ranks third on Oregon State’s career
list with 55 touchdown passes and 9,680
passing yards. He holds the record for the
longest touchdown pass in school history,
with a 97-yards TD pass to Chad Johnson
in 2000.
“We interviewed several qualified can-
didates and Coach Smith emerged as our
top choice,” athletic director Scott Barnes
said. “He brings to Oregon State football an
impressive plan to build our program. He
has a unique perspective on what it means
to be a part of Beaver Nation and to be suc-
cessful for our student-athletes on and off
the field.”
After Anderson stepped down, the Bea-
vers promoted cornerbacks coach Corry
Hall as interim head coach. Hall appeared
to inspire the team, which challenged Stan-
ford in a close 15-14 loss. And a group of
players started an online petition supporting
Hall, as well as a Twitter hastag #HALLin.
But Hall’s connection to the play-
ers didn’t translate to wins. The Beavers
wrapped up the season with a 69-10 loss to
rival Oregon in the Civil War rivalry game
to finish 1-11 overall and 0-9 in conference.
“I feel very positive about the future of
that football team in there,” Hall said fol-
lowing the Civil War loss outside the Bea-
vers’ locker room, “because I know they’ve
learned a lot and I know they’ll be in good
hands.”